Potchefstroom Campus News

NWU School of Mines and Mining Engineering set for future success

The North West province of South Africa sits on a bedrock of riches. From platinum to chrome, vanadium to gold, the region is among the most mineral-endowed in the world. Yet its communities remain scarred by poverty and unemployment, relics of a resource economy too often divorced from local benefit. For a province where mines dominate both the landscape and livelihoods, the need to convert mineral wealth into long-term skills, jobs and technological leadership is a necessity. The North-West University (NWU) believes it has found part of the answer: a new… Read more

Theology for the world

Diversity is the bedrock of the North-West University (NWU) and faith is a pillar of strength for many within the NWU and to billions of people around the globe. The Faculty of Theology has again shown that diversity and faith go well together by producing exceptional PhDs at the first PhD graduation ceremony of 2021. Hailing from the small…

Wasps zoom in on metal contamination

Wasps are often viewed as pests but they can play a huge role in the ecosystem, from pollination to being a link in the food chain. North-West University (NWU) master’s student Yasfir Tarif Nadat is now undertaking a study to show how wasps can be indicators of pollution. His study is inspired by a paper he and a team of researchers from the…

Mines are contaminating useful plants in Limpopo

Chromium from mining activities has been found in high concentrations in plant species commonly grown in household gardens in Sekhukhuneland, Limpopo, representing a potential health hazard. These are some of the findings of Sutapa Adhikari, a doctoral student from the North-West University (NWU), who has been studying the contamination of…

It’s time to put environmental regulations to work

With calls for safer, cleaner environments, a North-West University (NWU) researcher suggests that local governments use and enforce existing environmental regulations to ensure a better quality of life for all. Maricélle Botes, part of the research team at the Faculty of Law's South African Research Chair in Cities, Law and Environmental…

Flexibility and staying positive are key to boosting tourism

A North-West University (NWU) academic at the School of Tourism Management is calling for fresh and innovative thinking to boost the local tourism sector, which has declined by almost 80% since 2019.

Prof Peet van der Merwe says there has recently been a slight increase in international visitors to South Africa, but nowhere near the…

Science is a ball(oon) of a time!

Science is wickedly addictive. It is a window to wonders the imagination never knew existed. Godfrey Mosotho knows this more than most and he is not keeping the secret to himself.

Mosotho runs an experiment in which he launches meteorological balloons to measure ionising radiation…

NWU AUTHeR successfully presents first Africa Conference on transdisciplinarity

With nearly 500 registered participants from all around the globe, the first Africa Conference on Transdisciplinarity (ACT-1) conference was a roaring success.

Hosted by the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research (AUTHeR), the online event themed “…

South Africa needs to build on widening the current economic recovery

The better news about South Africa’s growth performance in the second quarter of 2021 is welcome. It suggests a slow but steady recovery from the shocks experienced as a result of the further lockdowns and civil unrest that occurred earlier in the year.

Prof Raymond Parsons,…

Cara Stacey wins Young Artist Award for Music

Dr Cara Stacey, senior lecturer in African Music at the School of Music at the North-West University (NWU), has just been named this year's winner of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Music. This award recognises her exceptional talent as a composer and performer.

Her music is described by the National Arts Festival…

Young female innovators shine during Modiragatsi Youth Innovation Competition

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us and the Faculty of Engineering at the North-West University (NWU) and its partners understand that it is necessary to equip the youth with skills that will benefit them in the long run.

In 2019 the…